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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1909)
PREPARATION DRESSING AND COOKING OF THE TURKEY A JSJLi IT AVl, J-XlJ-ii ,'Jt nrm-nfilinate Task Which Comes but Once a Year. Ialian Tingle Gives Points to Busy uousewne on rroper anu rivuwi 0 t TANTALUM 1 . - m 1 1 I, in miM win p W ii H T- . . : I n 7 k; .1,1 j ffb v'rr:, . , --v i-fi J.8J V-Vr - J . , i 1 - - V I - - - -.41 ff V ' vfc "":; I , r' - -vS?sfcL - 11 K .V T .vvT-- r 4 ''aJ" - ? -'j J 1 V-Dral.'nfl'the 'tindlnV " " J, ' ' V- v fW " "J f 2. Slit the Kln. at back of neck. I y if ! , T " ' V " X" J V'i 3. Removing the oil bag. No- i T t x 1SJ "y, , V ! ' Ps ' j ftice flap cf ekln, for stuffing, t . j , , i9mf J " v s, 0? 4 'J''vrK I where neck wai removed. I . a . . HSajl , - - s v. f 4. The elblets. Gisiard. split - gmX "x l-?3 ? " Z JJ- glMTg Jm HveT' RemV,nB . j; p- ' ' . ' ' " gi I 5 .Notlco pos,tl" of wins at j v v v v V 9 BT LILIAN TING US. FOR most of us. to think "Thanksgiv ing" is to think "turkey" a pleasant correlation of ideas, as a rule. But for some of us especially if -we happen to be young and Inexperienced housekeep-ers-to think "turkey" Is to think "Mercy me! I've got to cook it. What shall I do?'" Also for others of us masculine mostly -to tttfnk "turkey" is to think "Bills" j and "Mercy me! (equivalent mascuuno exprerdon ' "I've got to pay them " , But that is another story. J The only comfort I can offer for the lat ter class of sufferer Is the report that turkeys are plentiful and likely to be a little "less costly this year than last. For the timid new housekeeper, facing the entertainment and posetble criticism of "his folks." I offer some detailed in fractions, which I hope may be helpful for the preparation of the festive bird. - The experienced housekeeper may think some of the details too small to mention. But this article Is not for her. Posslbjy she never knew, or ba forgotten, the time when she first encountered, eingle handed, a large limp turkey-bird, all lees and neck: and when, on turning to her im posing new oilcloth covered cook book, she found her Implicit trust betrayed by the heartless directions "Dress, clean, stuff and truss a ten-pound turkey; place In dripping pan. baete carefully." etc.. the Inference being that dressing and trussing a turkey comes by nature. As for basting. I know of several cases . where a young woman more familiar with the vocabulary of the dressmaker than that of the cook Imagined that "baste carefulr" referred to the sewlng-up process after stuffing. One I know, tn her anxiety to follow Instructions, took so many small close strtches with an occa sional "back-stitch" to make sure.hat it was impossible to remove the thread after roasting; and "John" got a mouthful of sewing material along with the gtblet stuffing. And you know how a mere man lovea to remember and remind you of little things like that. Choose Birds Carefully. To begin with, then, choose your tur. key carefully, and if you have little ex perience In marketing order early from a man who has a reputation to live up to. Thanksgiving turkeys vary in grades and prices. The experienced buyer can some times secure bargains: but bargain-turkey hunting is dangerous for a beginner. The cook book will tell ypu some of the lgns of youth In a turkey oln feathers, flexible breastbone, smooth black legs, etc. Hard, heavily scaled feet and many hairs on the body Indicate the bird has arrived at years of discretion discretion on the part of the buyer, I mean. Such blrd call for special treatment:' for ex ample, steaming a while before going to the oven, if they are to he anything but dry and flavorless. Hen turkeys are gen erally considered superior to gobblers. Here Is a chance for a suffragette argu ment: but if we are drawn Into that, goodness knows when the dinner will be cooked. Have Feet .and AH Delivered. Having given yourself the best chance with a good bird of sixe suited to your circumstances eight to ten younds is a good "medium" siie take care to have it sent home with the feet left on. Tou have to pay for them, anyway: and you can t draw the tendons if the feet have been hacked off at the Joint. Drawing the tendons makes a great dif ference In the texture and appearance of the drumstick: and also makes you feel delightfully clever the first time you ac complish It all by yourself. There are regular tendon pullers on the market: but here Is a way that is easv (or a beginner: Break' each leg an Inch or so below the joint, by pressure over the edge of the table. Make a lengthwise cut. through the skin only, at this point and catch up each' endon sep arately, with a strong skewer. Give the skewer a half turn for "purchase," pull gently but firmly, and the tendon will come away wlthout-dlfficulty. Pull Out All Tendons. Keep pulling until all are out; then count them if you want to know how many there are. In 'class work someone always asks me: "How many tendons , are there. Miss Tingle?" I really don't know. Nor do I wish to know. Just keep pulling, one after another, until the foot hangs by the skin only. j Now cut off the feet and put them Into boiling water- Later you can strip off the dark outer skin and claws and use the nice white gelatinous feet to give body and smoothness to your gravy stock. The dark stumps on the end of the drumsticks should also be dipped In boil ing water and skinned. These stumps are quite Important. They help to pre vent shrinking of the flesh to the top of the. drumstick; they make neat trussing easier, and finally they, may he removed and leave a clean, unburned Joint for ervlng. It does not matter much whether the pin feathers, and remaining wing feath ers are removed before or after the feet, as long as they are all removed. If the last stiff wing feathers are hard to take off. try hot water. Bathe, the Bird Next. Now give the bird a bath in lukewarm water, to which a little soda or boras has been added to remove the grease from the skin. Scrub with a clean, vege table brush. Now look at the water. You'd never think the bird wad so dirty, would you? ' Next dry the creature, and singe It. If you have a gas stove. Just turn the bird about over the flame. If not, you can use a wisp of flaming paper, or better still rub on a little pure alcohol and set it alight in sink or dlshpan. Now twist and break the neck Just be low the head and cut off the latter. In dressing the turkey, it Is a good lan to have several sheets of paper between it and your board or table. Then the "un slghtlies" can be easily and quickly wrapped up and dropped out of the way Into pail or stove. Have a bowl of clean cold water at hand for the giblets. Have ready also a sharp knife and a trussing needle, threaded with string. A trussing needle costs 5 -to N cents at any hard ware store, and makes neat .trussing the easiest thing In the . world. And neat trussing means a good appearance at ta ble, an easy Job for the carver, and less chance of dryness In roasting all impor tant points. . To return to the turkey: hold the skin tight over the neck at the back, and make a lengthwise silt down to the base. Lift aside the neck from the skin, wind pipe and gullet: push it back against the shoulders, break and cut It off. Put it with the giblets In cold water and use. It to make stock. The neck would make an unattractive appearance at table, and r would be drled-up In roasting. Besides, you need the flap or skin ior extra siun Ing. How to Do the Drawing. Separate the crop and windpipe from the skin and draw them carefully out. Next remove the oil bag from the tail to prevent its imparting a "strong" flavor. If the bird came ready drawn from market., you simply put the giblets, liver, heart and gizzard, ready cleaned, into cold water with the neck. Then make 1. Drawing the tendons. - !. Slit the skin. at back of neck. 3. Removing the oil bag. No tice flap cf skin, for stuffing, .'where neck was removed.. 4. The giblets. Gizzard, split through thick part. Removing gall bag from liver. 5. Notice position of wings at back.' 6. Use of trussing needle. Thighs drawn up to breast. 7. Turkey ready for roasting pan. "Barde" of salt ponk protects '. breast. J sure that the lungs, lying close against the ribs, and the kidneys, lying in hol lows beside the backbone, have been com pletely removed. Lack of attention to this means an unpleasant flavor in your stuffing. If you have to draw the bird yourself, make a neat incision. Just above the vent, cutting through the skin only. If the bird is very . well fed, there will be a "leaf" of fat to cut through as well. Slip two fingers into the cavity and work them gently around close to the sides, until everything is loose. Do the same at the neck end. Go hack to' the other opening, take hold of the gizzard distinguishable by Its size and hardness and gently but firmly draw the whole of the bird's Inte rior arrangements out on a sheet of pa per. Cut off the end of the Intestine; re serve the heart, gizzard and liver; wrap up and burn the rest. In separating the liver from the green ish gall-sac. be careful not to -break the latter, for Oie gall will Impart a perma nent bitterness to everything it touches. Clean the gizzard by carefully cutting through the thick red muscle (not the flat blue sidesk: to the skin, and peeling it away from the Inclosed inner sac. The cook book may tell you to "wipe the inside of the bird with a damp. towel": but if you are wlRe you will quickly wash the Inside with lukewarm water and a little borax until not the slightest trace of odor is perceptible. This Insures sweet dressing and inside bones to pick. Work rapidly, so as not to losd the Juices. Never let the bird soak in a pan of water. Give a final rinse under the flowing faucet and wipe inside and out with a clean -dry towel. ' Now for the Stuffing. Now conies the stuffing. Of course you have your chosen kind already prepared. Dont .fill the body too full, for most dressings swell in cooking. If the turkey Is a very large one, slip a few thin strips of fat pork or bacon between the skin and flesh of the drumsticks to Improve their flavor and prevent dryness. Then sew up the body with a few large easily removable stitches. Next Insert some stufflng-another kind, If you choose, in the fore part of the tur key under the flap of necksktn. Make a fine, "plump chest and fasten the skin with a stitch or two at the back. Now twist the wings under, close to the sides, with the tips crossing the flap of skin. Bring the thighs close up to the. wings, pressing them downwards on the table. Notice how this "plumps up" the breast. Pass the threaded trussing needle through the middle joints of legs and wings and through the body of the bird. Tie at the back: then bring the string down the back and knot together near the tall. Bring to the front, tying tall and ends df drumsticks close together. See what a compact shape the bird has and how much more easily It fits Into the roasting pan! But It is not 'yet quite ready. Protecting the Breast. Tou should have a piece of salt pork or bacon, neatly cut, to protect the breast. Tou can order a quarter pound or so of the fattest, cut In two slices but 'not separated at the rind. This is called a "barde." Cut slits In it. to prevent Its curling up unduly, and remove it Just at the last' when the breast Is ready for the final' browning. Then, although the sbifi is a rich deep color the breast meat, im mediately below will be snowy white. Now work together equal parts of flour II 0 - ' h- f. . v HI I - f - , . v " - N 5 , I S i ' ' ' VA ' ? " l I ' 41 v' "A- J - , ' v I ' ' , - t I ' - . .1 ' - - i - y ': r - iVw - ' .v v 3 and butter, or a mixture of butter and bacon fat. Season it with salt and pep per andspread this culinary "complexion cteam" thickly over the bird, payingpar tlcular attention to the most exposed parts, such as wings and drum sticks. Now the roasting.. A good modern roasting pan soon saves Its cost and makes failure almost Impossible. There are some with arrangements for cooking the bird breast downwards: but with the "barde". this Is hardly necessary. , Have the oven hot for the preliminary searing, then check' the heat and give long, slow cooking to insure tenderness. A .general rule for poultry Is about 20 minutes a pound and 20 to 30 minutes for searing, sd not less than three hours and a half would be needed for a 10-pound turkey. Hurrying the cooking at a higher temperature means dryness and lack of flavor. After scaringyou may add a few table spoons of hot water to the pan, so as to have liquid enough to dip over the turkey with your basting spoon;' but with the self-basting roasters now so generally used both extra liquid and "every 10 min utes" basting is quite unnecessary. Baete the bird when you lift the cover to look at it: but don't do this too often. Attend to the regulation of your tem perature and don't worry. With a gas stove properly, adjusted, . I have actually left my turkey in the roaster, gone down town for two or three hours and found on my return a perfect brown bird, cooked by the "absent treatment." But perhaps this would hardly do for a novice. Tou can tell when the bird is nearly ready by the time, tba color and the ten- of the tliigh , to separate at the Remove the turkey to a smaller pan and keep hot while you make the gravy. Good Gravy Is Desirable. Greasy, lumpy, grayish-brown, or flavor less gravy Is one of the unpardonable culinary sins. Pour off, therefore, all superfluous fat from the pan, reserving about one and a half tablespoons of fat for every cup of gravy you intend to make. Add an equal quantity of flour.' Mix thoroughly, scrap ing in all the brown and working to a smooth paste in the pan. Now add a little stock (made from the giblets, neck, 'and feet, with or without a touch of onion), rrfix that smooth: then add the rest. It Is best to have the .stock warm, but not boiling. Now simmer slowly to develop flavor, to cook thoroughly the starchy thickening, and to improve the color. Season to taste with salt and pep per. Allow 13 minutes simmering, adding more stock or water if it gets too thick. . If the color isr not deep enough add a few drops of caramel or kitchen bouquet; but there should be no need of this.- Dish ' the turkey on a hot platter. 'Add any extra brown froni the pan to the gravy. Taste the latter and give a "final sea'soning" of a few drops lemon Juice, a speck of cayenne and a pinch or two of sugar. Strait if nec essary (it ought not to need this, but lumps must be avoided at any cost) add the chopped giblets, if . giblet gravy is liked, and serve la a hot gravy boat. ' Instead of being served in the gravy the giblets may, of course, be chopped and used in the dressing, or reserved for giblet pie, . patties or curry. A final word as to the serving q the tur key. If it Is to be carved at table, have pity upon the carver and let the platter be of size reasonably propor tionate to the bird. Do not over crowd the platter with garnish or gravy. Simplicity is best; and a few pieces of parsley or celery leaf, lemon slices or-bacon curls' are in far" better taBte than .the elaborate surroundings shown- in Borne cook-bobks and the il lustrated "household hints" of "home" magazines. Elaborate garnishes make attractive pictures; but, on the family table, they are likely to make an un practlced carver think things unfit to print. PRIEST VERSUS PROFESSOR While Theologians Fight, Laymen Get Their Innings. PORTLAND, Nov. 18. (To the Editor.) There is a saying that "when rogues, fall out honest men may get their dues." This saying is applicable to the case in dicated in the above caption only to aug- NEW ELECTRIC LAMP MORE ECONOMICAL than any carbon filament lamp. . MORE STURDY than the TUNGSTEN CAN BE USED , KEY Portland Railway, Lights Power Company - 1 47 Seventh -Street . Best a paraphrase "while theologians are. fighting, the layman may have, his innings." This thought is suggested by the neat way in which Father Augustin seems to have caromed on Professor Howe In The Oregonian of November 14.' declaring the latter not a Christian, leading the layman to Inquire, "What is Christianity and what constitutes one. a Christian?" ' In legal and governmental affairs the Constitution is appealed to as the fountain-head of authority, and the same course would seem proper in theological controversies. In theology the creed is the constitution, and to it the Father ap peals, and thereby seems, in the ver nacular of the boys, to have got the professor "where the hair is short." The layman examines the constitution of the ology and finds there space permitting onlv an epitome of the portion Involved in the present scrap these fundamental propositions, viz.: The deity created the first man, who sinned upon the flfst temp tation, whereby he incurred the wrath of his creator upon himself and all his pos terity. In order to appease the wrath of the first person in the trinity, the third person In the trinity begat of a virgin a son second person In the trinity, through whose suffering and death the wrath of the first person 1n the trinity might be sufficiently appeased, that sucj persons as could and would place im plicit faith in this somewhat complicated and intricate plan, might be saved from the consequences of both their own and inherited sins. This sounds much like a word puzzle, but It is not, and scans all right when disentangled, and is all fn the. eonMltutlon with much more In similar -eln. The professor repudiates lie miraculous conception, absolves the third person of any wrong, declares the second person only a man. from which it. follows that his death had not the efficacy set forth in the constitution. The good Father's belief in the whole constitution seems implicit, and in the by laws as well, and from that' stand point seems entitled to and does call the professor un-Chritian. A saying is attributed to Cardinal New man on his leaving the Anglican for the Roman establishment, that "there is no logical standing ground between atheism and Romanism," which seems quite ap plicable to this case. Father Augustin, wielding the keen broadsword of implicit faith, appears to have caught Professor Howe astride the fence, the rapier of his partial faith In one hand, while with the other essaying a weak hold on the scimi ter of the agnostic,, with usual result of a divided against a centralized force. PLATE Posmve. QiE LECTROPODESUfg CORE WHERE DRUGS FAIL If you are sufferer from Rheumatism, Neuralgia. Hervoua All meats, Stomach or Liver Troubles and have been unable to find relief from Drn try Eleetropodesi Give them a etinnce to Cl'HK yon. Elec tro pod ea never fall to Indue a good circulation of the blood and make A CONTRACT Tour Drua glst alffns a contract wbea you buy a pair of Electro nodes, asree Ins; to refnnd the money If they should prove unsat isfactory, ' in SOCKET A disinterested , layman may easily be come interested as contending theologians expose each the weak points of the whole constitution. G. E. CAUKIN. KNOT LIKE WOMAN'S FACE "Dad" Johnson, of St. John, Picks - Up Odd (Curio. "Dad" Johnson, 'father of C. L. John son, a Councilman of. St. John, recently found on the river bank near the Richmond-street dock a knot which bears an almost life-like resemblance to a human face. The ear. mouth r.nd eye of a profile view are very prominent, while a twlc ..." Knot Resembling Woman's Pace Picked I p on St. John Reach. projects In front, making a prominent nose. Another twig reaching out from behind the face, with wavy lines around It, bears a resemblance to a knot of hair with a large pin in it. , Mr. Johnson has named the curio "the Suffragette." Arc ! : - . 'TV,-.. a - ooio, clammy reel ory nun vmrm. ElectTopodes are two metal Inaolm, worn In the heels of the ahoosi on a of eonper, the other of sine forming the rw notes of a gralvanle battery. Tha nerves of the body become the connecting; wires, over which a centle flow of electricity eonroea thronshoot the day strengthening; the entire system. Bay Electropodea of mr Druararlst 41.0O a pair and If he cannot supply them, havo him order a for you from Stewart S Holmes Drug Co WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS, SEATTLE. I
